Greetings,

It's 9.30 on an overcast Friday morning here - the clouds from three tropical cyclones meandering across our little corner of the world have just arrived; but a wet weekend is fun when you're not planning anything special, don't you think?

We christened our little campervan last weekend. This is something my husband has been wanting to do for years - we've always believed in "civilisation" rather than "wilderness" when it came to holidays, but deep down he's had a yearning for the freedom of a little camper so we could just pack up on a Saturday morning and get away for a couple of days ... and that's just what we did.

Talk about fun! It's just like a cubby-house on wheels.

We only drove an hour north from where we live and stayed right on the beach - it was magic. One of those perfect times that you know you're going to remember forever... The weather was ideal, the water was blue, the waves were not-too-big, not-too-small ... Goldilocks would have been in her element!

For dinner, we were planning on going to one of the flash restaurants along the waterfront, but the thought of missing out on what promised to be an unbelievable sunset was too much, so we barbecued the sausages we'd bought for breakfast, put them in bread rolls, grabbed a bottle of bubbly and had a picnic on the beach in front of the camper and watched the sky and the water change a hundred different shades of pink and gold as the sun set behind us ... How classy was that, eh?

But, it's raining this week ...

The effect the rain has had, has been to affect our plans for the weekend.

Well, no, it wasn't a particularly smooth intro to this week's topic, but there you are ...

These two words are often misused and confused, so let's try to shed a little light on them.

The easiest way to distinguish the two is to remember that affect is a verb (well, nearly always a verb) and effect is a noun ... well, nearly always! 

Simple? 

Great, glad I was able to clear that up for you.

Oh? Still not clear?

When affect is pronounced [uh FEKT] and accented on the final syllable, it's a verb meaning "to have an influence on." 

eg Nothing they did, could affect my decision to go to the beach.

Occasionally, very occasionally, the word is used as a noun (it means a feeling or emotion, as distinguished from thought or action, or a strong feeling having active consequences) and the accent is on the first syllable [AFF ekt]. This is a term that is reserved for psychiatry and psychology:

eg In hysteria, the affect is sometimes entirely dissociated, sometimes transferred to another than the original idea.

Effect is most usually a noun and it means the result of some action or the power to produce a result. The noun is pronounced [uh FEKT] :

eg The effect of the bushfire was clearly visible.

eg The soothing music had an immediate effect on the wild beast.

This can also be a verb and it means to bring into existence, to produce a result (pronounced [ee FEKT]):

eg The manager was trying to effect a change in the way the accounts were kept.

I hope that's helped a little.

If you received this from a friend, you can subscribe here: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Choose the word closest in meaning to the first word in each of the following:

1. prestigious: massive, solemn, ancient, HONOURED

2. acme: monument, PEAK, honour, reward

3. subservient: arrogant, SUBMISSIVE, demanding, underneath

4. instrumental: instructive, intelligent, IMPORTANT, fortunate

5. catharsis: explosion, CLEANSING, pollution, cough

6. acrid: pleasant, crazed, IRRITATING, soothing

7. recluse: spider, HERMIT, request, hiding place

8. acrimony: break-up, dispute, BITTERNESS, custody

9. propriety: misbehaviour, SUITABILITY, harassment, drama

10.servile: efficient, pleasant, SUBMISSIVE, unnerving

Here are some more of those little conundrums (or should that be conundra?)

 Is it OK to use the AM radio after noon?
 What do chickens think we taste like?
 What do people in China call THEIR good plates?
 When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
 Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
 Why do they sterilise the needle for lethal injections?
 Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
 Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?
 Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?
 Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
 Why is the word "dictionary" in the dictionary?
 Why are cigarettes sold at gas stations where smoking is prohibited?
 Have you ever imagined a world without hypothetical situations?
 You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes, why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
 If a firefighter fights fire and a crimefighter fights crime, what does a freedomfighter fight?
 If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?
 If you are driving at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on,  what happens?
 What would Geronimo say if he jumped out of an airplane?
 Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
 If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Regards,

Jennifer

Privacy Policy.